Author: Aimé

The Merchant of Venice – PR

I’ve never considered myself a big fan of plays, but The Merchant of Venice is one of the most famous plays that Shakespeare ever wrote, and I can perceive why.

Starting with the Elizabethan English, at first I found a little confusing how the pronouns and verbs worked or what they meant, and as english being my second language, there were some words that were difficult to understand as well. But then I found really interesting how some words we normally hear in the present meant a whole different thing during that time.

During the play, there were several subjects about society that were spoken about directly or indirectly, such as racial discrimination, religious discrimination, sexism and classism; but the most obvious one was religious discrimination.

Most of the play’s plot contained the “Christians VS Jews” topic, making it very notorious with Shylock and Antonio’s relationship, and topping it even more with Shylock’s famous speech where he claims with anger to be treated equally.

This play showed me a different view of a never-ending discussion about who is right and who is wrong, and how there isn’t always a conclusion about it.

 

Langston Hughes’ Poetry PR

I found Langston Hughes’ poetry very interesting. For me, it can normally get really hard to understand poetry and to find it entertaining,  but Hughes’ poetry has became an exception. His poems share similarities regarding to the subjects of social injustice, racial discrimination, sexism, classism, etc. And almost every poem that I read  managed to get my attention in some different ways, probably this happened due to the way the speaker narrates the story.

Hughes’ ways to narrate his poems is what I liked the most, because he shows his perspective about the situations and expresses very clearly his feelings about them such as his thoughts, carrying with influential and determined words.

My favorite poem that I read was Ruby Brown, because it shows the sacrifices that a black person had to do in order to get enough money to live and how the society decides to only pay attention to the facts and not the background of their situations, making an emphasis on how society is carried away by appearances and decides to ignore the origins of the problems.

Reading his poetry helped me to expand my knowledge about African-American communities, but not only that, it helped me to improve my english vocabulary, discovering words that I had never listened before and taught me to identify the different structures that a poem can have.

Daniel Willingham’s Outsmart Your Brain

Reading Chapter 5 of Willingham’s book Outsmart your Brain made me reflect about my study habits and the ways my reading and writing skills can be way more improved. As I read more and more, I became more aware that I usually do a lot of the things that aren’t very recommendable to do in order to write a resume, read a text or make any type of ‘analysis’.

Chapter 5 helped me a lot to be more conscious about how I normally study and gave  me excellent study strategies that from now on I will start using in order to upgrade my reeding comprehension skills as well as note taking skills.

 

Personal Response – Antigone

Honestly, I found the story of Antigone as good as Oedipus, but the drama and tragedy in Antigone’s story is much more intriguing  and strong for me. It is full of loss and tragedies, as well as metaphors or situations that can be identified with events from the present. I feel a little of pity for Creon and Ismene as they were the ‘last ones left’ and were there to presence how everyone of their families died.

I also like how in the story is portrayed the determination on fighting for what you believe for, but it is important to recognize that what you think is right it isn’t always that way. A very clear example is Creon’s beliefs, he is evidently a very sexist man who had a made clear his favoritism toward his gender, which is why I could not respect Creon completely, although he was trying to do the best for his kingdom he did it in wrong ways and he realized things too late for him to be able to stop it.

I believe myself to be a combination of Antigone and Ismene, since I can be a really nice and quiet person like Ismene, but if there is something I believe in and I see a clear injustice on things I will fight for it.

 

Personal Response: Oedipus The King

Oedipus the King is a book that found myself to really like, which seems a little weird to me because it isn’t the type of book that I usually read.

I think I liked it because of how the personality of Oedipus is presented. For me, it represents and identifies a lot of characteristics that people (including myself) normally have.

Another thing that I really liked about the book was that every time something happened to Oedipus or around him I became more and more intrigued, and I felt all this questions about the character and the story coming but as I kept reading those questions were being clarified, except two.

Is Oedipus a good person or a bad one and was he really capable to be in charge of his life or was it Apollo controlling it all along? This two questions raises my curiosity  about Oedipus, but I also feel like it’s this really good metaphor about people and our behaviors.

Class blog Intro

My name is Aimé Berenice Padilla Camarena, but I prefer to be called Aimé. I was born in León Guanajuato, Mexico, and I have lived there for my whole life. León isn’t a very big place and you cant’t really find a lot of things to do, except going to the shopping mall. This is my first time being in a whole different place than my home town and I am really happy about it.
I enjoy spending time with my family and my friends, taking a walk with my dog, playing tennis and reading.

For this class I expect to read very interesting books and stories, improve my english skills in writing, speaking and reading. I also expect to be better at organizing myself and being more responsable.